Particle.news
Download on the App Store

Mendoza Files Argentina’s First Court Complaints Over Parents Skipping Childhood Vaccines

Cases now proceed in civil court under an August provincial resolution that enables compliance orders or monetary penalties.

Overview

  • Mendoza’s Health Ministry confirmed it submitted 10 civil complaints after families refused or failed to complete the mandatory immunization schedule.
  • The filings mark the first formal judicial actions of their kind in Argentina to enforce the national vaccination program for children.
  • Health teams used the national vaccination registry to identify incomplete schedules, exhausted outreach attempts, and then escalated unresolved cases to court.
  • Judges can order vaccination, impose protection measures, or levy fines of 200,000 to 300,000 pesos as established by Resolution No. 2,572.
  • Authorities cite renewed measles transmission and seven recent infant deaths from pertussis as drivers for action, with coverage above 80% in schools but below the ~95% needed and largest gaps at 12–15 months.